At JPMorgan Chase & Company, they were derided as “Burger King kids” — walk-in hires who were so inexperienced they barely knew what a mortgage was.

At Citigroup and GMAC, dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on home foreclosures was outsourced to frazzled workers who sometimes tossed the paperwork into the garbage.

And at Litton Loan Servicing, an arm of Goldman Sachs, employees processed foreclosure documents so quickly that they barely had time to see what they were signing.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of the loan,” a Litton employee said in a deposition last year. “I’m not a loan officer.”

As the furor grows over lenders’ efforts to sidestep legal rules in their zeal to reclaim homes from delinquent borrowers, these and other banks insist that they have been overwhelmed by the housing collapse.

But interviews with bank employees, executives and federal regulators suggest that this mess was years in the making and came as little surprise to industry insiders and government officials. The issue gained new urgency on Wednesday, when all 50 state attorneys general announced that they would investigate foreclosure practices. That news came on the same day that JPMorgan Chase acknowledged that it had not used the nation’s largest electronic mortgage tracking system, MERS, since 2008.

That system has been faulted for losing documents and other sloppy practices.

The root of today’s problems goes back to the boom years, when home prices were soaring and banks pursued profit while paying less attention to the business of mortgage servicing, or collecting and processing monthly payments from homeowners.

Banks spent billions of dollars in the good times to build vast mortgage machines that made new loans, bundled them into securities and sold those investments worldwide. Lowly servicing became an afterthought. Even after the housing bubble began to burst, many of these operations languished with inadequate staffing and outmoded technology, despite warnings from regulators.

When borrowers began to default in droves, banks found themselves in a never-ending game of catch-up, unable to devote enough manpower to modify, or ease the terms of, loans to millions of customers on the verge of losing their homes. Now banks are ill-equipped to deal the foreclosure process.

“We waited and waited and waited for wide-scale loan modifications,” said Sheila C. Bair, the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, one of the first government officials to call on the industry to take action. “They never owned up to all the problems leading to the mortgage crisis. They have always downplayed it.”

In recent weeks, revelations that mortgage servicers failed to accurately document the seizure and sale of tens of thousands of homes have caused a public uproar and prompted lenders like Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Ally Bank, which is owned by GMAC, to halt foreclosures in many states.

Even before the political outcry, many of the banks shifted employees into their mortgage servicing units and beefed up hiring. Wells Fargo, for instance, has nearly doubled the number of workers in its mortgage modification unit over the last year, to about 17,000, while Citigroup added some 2,000 employees since 2007, bringing the total to 5,000.

“We believe we responded appropriately to staff up to meet the increased volume,” said Mark Rodgers, a spokesman for Citigroup.

Some industry executives add that they’re committed to helping homeowners but concede they were slow to ramp up. “In hindsight, we were all slow to jump on the issue,” said Michael J. Heid, co-president of at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “When you think about what it costs to add 10,000 people, that is a substantial investment in time and money along with the computers, training and system changes involved.”

Other officials say as foreclosures were beginning to spike as early as 2007, no one could have imagined how rapidly they would reach their current level. About 11.5 percent of borrowers are in default today, up from 5.7 percent from two years earlier.

“The systems were not ever that great to begin with, but you didn’t have that much strain on them,” said Jim Miller, who previously oversaw the mortgage servicing units for troubled borrowers at Citigroup, Chase and Capitol One. “I don’t think anybody anticipated this thing getting as bad as it did.”

Almost overnight, what had been a factorylike business that relied on workers with high school educations to process monthly payments needed to come up with a custom-made operation that could solve the problems of individual homeowners. Gregory Hebner, the president of the MOS Group, a California loan modification company that works closely with service companies, likened it to transforming McDonald’s into a gourmet eatery. “You are already in chase mode, and you never catch up,” he said.

To make matters worse, the banks had few financial incentives to invest in their servicing operations, several former executives said. A mortgage generates an annual fee equal to only about 0.25 percent of the loan’s total value, or about $500 a year on a typical $200,000 mortgage. That revenue evaporates once a loan becomes delinquent, while the cost of a foreclosure can easily reach $2,500 and devour the meager profits generated from handling healthy loans.

“Investment in people, training, and technology — all that costs them a lot of money, and they have no incentive to staff up,” said Taj Bindra, who oversaw Washington Mutual’s large mortgage servicing unit from 2004 to 2006.

And even when banks did begin hiring to deal with the avalanche of defaults, they often turned to workers with minimal qualifications or work experience, employees a former JPMorgan executive characterized as the “Burger King kids.” In many cases, the banks outsourced their foreclosure operations to law firms like that of David J. Stern, of Florida, which served clients like Citigroup, GMAC and others. Mr. Stern hired outsourcing firms in Guam and the Philippines to help.

The result was chaos, said Tammie Lou Kapusta, a former employee of Mr. Stern’s who was deposed by the Florida attorney general’s office last month. “The girls would come out on the floor not knowing what they were doing,” she said. “Mortgages would get placed in different files. They would get thrown out. There was just no real organization when it came to the original documents.”

Citigroup and GMAC say they are no longer giving any new work to Mr. Stern’s firm.

In some cases, even steps that were supposed to ease the situation, like the federal program aimed at helping homeowners modify their mortgages to reduce what they owed, had actually contributed to the mess. Loan servicing companies complain that bureaucratic requirements are constantly changed by Washington, forcing them to overhaul an already byzantine process that involves nearly 250 steps.

October 13, 2010French General Mixes Formula for a Bit of Afghan CalmBy ALISSA J. RUBIN

FORWARD OPERATING BASE TORA, Afghanistan — Just east of Kabul lies a stark mountain moonscape that for centuries was home to gunmen who preyed on travelers and harassed invaders in the narrow mountain passes. As recently as last year, ambushes of NATO troops were not uncommon.

Now, the French soldiers responsible for the area say they believe that the situation has calmed so much that by next summer or even earlier, they would be comfortable handing primary responsibility for this district, Sarobi, in eastern Kabul Province, to Afghan troops.

“Of course this is a political decision, but the district of Sarobi could be transferred to Afghan control not later than the summer of 2011; I think even by February it could be ready,” said Brig. Gen. Pierre Chavancy, the commander of Task Force Lafayette, the French brigade in Afghanistan with 2,500 soldiers.

The handing over of districts to Afghan security forces is expected to begin next year in preparation for the gradual withdrawal of NATO troops. The French experience in Sarobi suggests that with a substantial number of Afghan troops, generous spending on civilian projects like schools and jobs programs and a local government that is not too corrupt, it is possible to create a measure of calm.

Less clear is whether that formula would work in other parts of a country where overall security has deteriorated. In some violent areas, corruption is so entrenched that it is all but impossible to root out, and the Taliban and other rebels are pervasive.

As he departs for France after his six-month tour, General Chavancy says he believes he is seeing the moment when the French Army’s work of the last two and a half years has begun to pay off, at least in Sarobi. The other troubled district in the French area of operations, Tagab, remains rife with Taliban fighters.

His analysis is that many of the local Taliban in Sarobi are not “very serious” and join the insurgency to make a living.

“These are peasants born to the mountains,” he said. “Their main problem is land. Each family has five and a half boys, but only one will inherit the land, what will the other 4.5 do? They need an income.”

General Chavancy’s certainty that Sarobi will be ready reflects the improvements his soldiers have seen in the Afghan Army’s professionalism but also a measure of realism about what can be achieved in this strategic crescent that was fought over by the British in the 19th century, the Russians in the 20th century and now the NATO coalition. Some violence is inevitable, but not necessarily worrisome, he said.

“O.K., on the road there are some hot spots, some small-arms fire against the A.N.A., the A.N.P., but nothing really significant,” he said, referring to the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. “And you have also some tensions and rivalries that have nothing to do with what we are doing here.”

The French battalion commander in charge of Sarobi, Col. Jerome Goisque, whose Forward Operating Base Tora looks out across the mountains and whose soldiers patrol its valleys, is more reserved. He said it would probably not be possible for a foreign civilian to travel on the roads. “It is quiet, but sometimes you have ambushes or exchanges of fire,” he said. “But if we were not there it would be worse.”

Still, compared with when the French took over from the Italians two and a half years ago, Sarobi now is far less lawless. Before, both Sarobi and Tagab were thick with Taliban fighters. Shortly after the French arrived, one of their patrols was ambushed in Sarobi; 10 French soldiers were killed, the largest loss of life for the French military since a bombing in Lebanon in 1983, which also killed 241 Americans. Last November, members of a French patrol were ambushed as they headed to a meeting.

Now the Taliban are passing through the area rather than living there, said General Chavancy, a quietly serious man, who has served in Bosnia, Djibouti and the Central African Republic, among other places. He credits the gradual professionalization of the Afghan Army and its growth. Afghans have begun to trust their soldiers, he said.

Many of the officers are old Northern Alliance commanders, who fought the local Taliban for years, and they know the area well. That would not be a recipe for peace since the local residents are Pashtuns, and the Pashtuns here are the officers’ old enemies, but the Afghan military is behaving “nationally not ethnically,” General Chavancy said.

Helping as well may be that the French Task Force Lafayette has a $50 million a year budget for civic projects, and while not all of it is being spent in Sarobi, enough is so that some poor areas are getting needed funds.

And, in Sarobi, the governor is not particularly corrupt and so there is less antagonism toward the government than in neighboring Kapisa Province, where corruption has been rife and the insurgency has used that to rally people against Afghan and NATO forces, the general said.

France is one of a handful of countries in the 40-member coalition in Afghanistan that is conducting combat operations; it has lost 49 soldiers since 2001. As is the case in most European countries, the government in France has only limited domestic support for the Afghanistan mission.

“The main thing French people feel is perplexity, they don’t understand what we do here,” General Chavancy said.

Hardest is to explain why the French have been unable to bring home two detained French journalists. The two struck off on their own in Tagab District, in Kapisa Province, and were kidnapped on Dec. 30, 2009. The French will not discuss the kidnapping or their efforts to win the journalists’ release.

Unlike Sarobi District, not much has changed in Tagab during the past two and a half years as the French have patrolled the area. General Chavancy estimates that there are 250 Taliban fighters operating there; girls are not permitted to go to school and travel can be dangerous.

General Chavancy estimates that it will be late 2012 before Tagab can be transferred to Afghan control.

A report in the New Zealand Herald quotes a spokesman for director-producer Peter Jackson as saying, "Warner Brothers are running financial models about the costs of shooting in a variety of countries. We expect a decision is still a week or two away."

This came despite a meeting today between union and management representatives, which a statement characterized as "a useful and productive discussion."

Jackson's spokesman told the Herald that the "Hobbit" situation remained unchanged following the meeting.

The meeting, which was facilitated by Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee, involved representatives of the country's Screen Production and Development Assn., New Zealand Actors' Equity and the Council of Trade Unions. No representatives of Jackson were present at the meeting, THR has learned.

It's unclear to what extent the meeting focused on "Hobbit." The statement suggested a broader focus: "The parties have agreed to work together to update the conditions of engagement for performers in the New Zealand screen production industry."

The joint statement added that "the parties believe this process will help to ensure New Zealand remains an attractive screen production environment." SPADA, NZAE and the CTU have agreed to a press blackout. The meeting, which was facilitated by Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee, involved representatives of the country's Screen Production and Development Assn., New Zealand Actors' Equity and the Council of Trade Unions. No representatives of Jackson were present at the meeting, THR has learned.

It's unclear to what extent the meeting focused on "Hobbit." The statement suggested a broader focus: "The parties have agreed to work together to update the conditions of engagement for performers in the New Zealand screen production industry."

The joint statement added that "the parties believe this process will help to ensure New Zealand remains an attractive screen production environment." SPADA, NZAE and the CTU have agreed to a press blackout.

India's richest man Mukesh Ambani moves into £630m homeThe richest man in India, Mukesh Ambani, has moved into his new home in Mumbai which is 27 storeys high and worth £630m.

By Laura RobertsPublished: 10:56AM BST 14 Oct 2010

Ambani, his wife and three children have moved into the building which is named Antilia, after a mythical Island. It contains a health club with a gym and dance studio, at least one studio, a ballroom, guestrooms and a range of lounges and a 50 seater cinema.

There is even an elevated garden with ceiling space to accommodate small trees.

The roof has three helicopter pads and there is also underground parking for 160 cars, which will come in handy for guests at Ambani's forthcoming housewarming party.

From the top floors of the 173m high property are spectacular views of Mumbai and of the Arabian Sea.

The 53 year-old tycoon is not only the richest man in India but the fourth richest man in the world. In total there is reported to be 37,000 square metres of space, which is more than the Palace of Versailles.

To keep it running smoothly requires 600 staff.

According to Forbes magazine Ambani, who owns much of Reliance Industries, the oil, retail and biotechnologies conglomerate, is worth £18bn. He used to help run the company before falling out with his brother.

The glass, steel and tiles used to make the building are reported to be from local sources.

Ambani does not appear to be influenced by calls by the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, for business leaders to be "role models of moderation".

Impulsive behaviour can be improved with training and the improvement is marked by specific brain changes, according to a new Queen's University study.

A research team led by neuroscience PhD student Scott Hayton has pinpointed the area of the brain that controls impulsive behavior and the mechanisms that affect how impulsive behavior is learned. The findings could have a significant impact on the diagnosis and treatment of several disorders and addictions, including ADHD and alcoholism.

"In the classroom, kids often blurt out answers before they raise their hand. With time, they learn to hold their tongue and put up their hand until the teacher calls them. We wanted to know how this type of learning occurs in the brain," says Mr. Hayton, a PhD student at the Centre for Neuroscience Studies at Queen's. "Our research basically told us where the memory for this type of inhibition is in the brain, and how it is encoded."

The team trained rats to control impulsive responses until a signal was presented. Electrical signals between cells in the brain's frontal lobe grew stronger as they learned to control their impulses. This showed that impulsivity is represented, in a specific brain region, by a change in communication between neurons.

Impulsivity is often thought of as a personality trait, something that makes one person different from another.

Children who have difficulty learning to control a response often have behavioral problems which continue into adulthood, says Professor Cella Olmstead, the principal investigator on the study. She notes that impulsivity is a primary feature of many disorders including addiction, ADHD, obsessive compulsive disorder and gambling. Identifying the brain region and mechanism that controls impulsivity is a critical step in the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions.

"In conditions where learning does not occur properly, it is possible that it is this mechanism that has been impaired," adds co-investigator neuroscience Professor Eric Dumont.

The findings were recently published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.

Here are 12 pretty awesome behind the scenes photos from the George Lucas and Irvin Kershner classic film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. These come from the new book The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Kershner was at the main talent behind Empire Strikes Back and it's crazy to think that Lucas didn't like what he did with it. This film was made by a crew of talented people that actually told George Lucas "No." Which is why the movie ended up being the best of them all!

I can't wait to get my copy of this book! Check out the photos and feel free to share your thoughts with us!

It looks like a piece of riot-control gear. It’s got a computerized in-board targeting system. It can kill someone from 2,300 feet away, while he takes cover. And it’s on its way to the Afghanistan war.

The XM-25 grenade launcher shoots a 25 mm high-explosive round that’s basically a “smart” grenade. What makes it smart? Sensors and microchips inside the round talks to the gun’s guidance system, known as the Target Acquisition Fire Control unit, to learn where and when to explode, minimizing the likelihood of collateral damage.

Need to take out an insurgent who’s popping out from behind a clay wall? Set the guidance for the distance to the wall and adjust a bit more for his body’s position and fire — actually using Plus and Minus buttons on the side of the gun. Watch the round release bursts of shrapnel right over him. You can’t do that with a regular mortar tube, even if you were able to shoot the mortar like a gun.

The Army’s said for a while that it would purchase over 12,000 of the guns starting in 2012. But the Soldier Systems blog reports today that the Army’s going to send a battalion’s worth — about 800 guns, then — to the 101st Airborne Division, serving now in Afghanistan’s rugged east. The XM-25 should arrive in November. The Army said earlier this year that it would send the XM-25 to Special Forces units in Afghanistan this summer.

We’ll see if the gun wins the kinds of plaudits from soldiers in Afghanistan that it got from reporters who saw it in action in May at the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Army Times compared it to something out of Men In Black. Greg Grant wrote for Military.com that its “enormous firepower advantage is obvious.” Tech News Daily cited Afghanistan vets who called it a “game-changing weapon.”

(Please excuse the translation) - cn.yahoo - (Xinhua Ji Nan) 10 13, one on "the end of the Qinling Mountains to a village to disappear overnight," the post pass crazy on the network, especially in the micro-Bo was crazy reserved. After many journalists confirmed that the network confirmed rumors of the news department.

"I have heard, yesterday 4:00, the end of a village in the Qinling Mountains, all disappeared overnight! ... ... There are a large number of troops sealed off the scene ... ..."

Baidu Post Bar in the Qinling reporter saw a lot of friends concerned about the so-called "foot of the Qinling Mountains next village disappeared." More users skeptical on the matter.

Reporters today (13), respectively, to Shaanxi Provincial Public Security Bureau, Shaanxi Military District, and the Qinling Mountains surrounding Hanzhong, Ankang, Baoji, Xi'an, Shangluo confirmation, the parties did not receive any relevant reports have indicated that Network attached network belongs to the rumors.

UPDATE: Just read this on one of the other Chinese news services that was conveniently removed within minutes: (translation) - According to eyewitnesses, a UFO flying around. Qinling Mountains snakes have fled, there are also insiders of the nuclear base in the Qinling Mountains in the accident....Lon